» NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS The European Parliament in Strasbourg Source: Pixabay is not just a matter of our competitiveness. This is also a matter of tech sovereignty. So let‘s put all of our focus on it.” Von der Leyen went on to state that the Commission will “present a new European Chips Act” which would link together the bloc’s research, design and testing capacities. “The aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production. That ensures our security of supply and will develop new markets for groundbreaking European tech,” she explained, while admitting that this was “a daunting task”. “…I know that some claim it cannot be done. But they said the same thing about Galileo 20 years ago. And look what happened. We got our act together. Today European satellites provide the navigation system for more than 2 billion smartphones worldwide. We are world leaders. So let‘s be bold again, this time with semi-conductors.” Establishing cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing in the EU was already part of the Commission’s 2030 Digital Compass decadal plan. The bloc aims to double its share of the world’s chip market to 20 percent and to operate semiconductor fabrication plants with 2nm process nodes by the end of this decade. So what exactly will the new ‘Chips Act’ look like? In a blog post commenting on the announcement, Thierry Breton stated his belief that the new Act should cover three dimensions: • A European Semiconductor Research Strategy • A collective plan to enhance European production capacity • A framework for international cooperation and partnership The region is not looking to become entirely selfsufficient, however – at least according to EU’s digital and competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, who was interviewed to the New Statesman about the plans. “What is important is of course access… Europe has a stronghold in the machinery producing chips,” Vestager was quoted as saying. “We have a stronghold in research … But there are other things that we don’t have. We don’t have a giant chip producer of the smallest chips, and we don’t necessarily have access to all the raw materials for producing chips.” 8 EPPEurope » 11 | 2021
Green power Advantech and RFD Micro Electricity join forces on solar SPV project Advantech Taiwan has committed to sourcing at least 50% of the energy it consumes from green power by 2026, with the aim of achieving 100% green power consumption by 2032. It plans to collaborate with solar service provider RFD Micro Electricity to develop a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for operating a solar power plant with an output of approximately 10 MW. The company has focused on developing smart solutions that benefit the environment, such as green energy storage and wind energy equipment maintenance solutions. It says it has adopted building energy management, energy conservation, and carbon reduction strategies to optimize operations; and has also participated in the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to implement responsible production and formulate effective emissions reduction targets for 2030. The company will partner with RFD Micro Electricity to develop an SPV for operating a solar power plant, with the Madou and Xuejia Districts of Tainan City selected as potential sites. The new plant will be equipped with the company‘s WISE-PaaS industrial IoT cloud platform and a solar energy management solutionready package (SRP) in an effort to optimize operations, improve maintenance management, and enhance power generation efficiency. “Advantech’s cooperation with RFD Micro Electricity represents a small step toward realizing green energy consumption and carbon emissions reduction. In the future, Advantech plans to establish a Building Energy Management System (BEMS) business unit as well as a New Energy Solutions business unit for the energy Advantech says its cooperation with RFD Micro Electricity represents a small step toward realizing green energy consumption and carbon emissions reduction conservation, power generation, and environmental protection sectors. Through long-term investment in these markets, Advantech hopes to make a significant contribution to green energy consumption and achieve its ESG targets,” the company said. www.advantech.eu www.rfdme.com Source: Advantech ‹ Process control by KY realtime monitoring ‹ User-friendly library manager for local access to global database Koh Young Europe GmbH Industriegebiet Süd E4 63755 Alzenau Tel. +49 (0)6188 9935663 E-mail: europe@kohyoung.com www.kohyoung.com ‹ Improvement of processes through data EPPEurope » 11 | 2021 9
